Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites and is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia and Africa. Of the five Plasmodium parasite species that can infect humans (P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae and P. knowlesi), the most serious forms of the disease are caused by P. falciparum and P. vivax. Of the approximately 515 million people infected yearly, between one and three million people, the majority of whom are young children in Sub-Saharan Africa, die from the disease. The current armament of approved anti-malarial drugs, such as chloroquine, atovaquone, pyrimethamine, and sulfadoxine, is limited to only a few targets within the human malaria parasite, and growing widespread resistance to current drugs is prompting the development of new antimalarial agents that have new biological targets.